


Four Windows on a Saint

by Cantatrice18



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Gen, Missing Scene, POV Multiple, Season/Series 04 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-29
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-10 10:37:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1158648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantatrice18/pseuds/Cantatrice18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 4.03</p>
<p>Anna comes down to breakfast the night after the concert. Her appearance shocks many and, though she shrugs off any remarks, those who observe her form their own opinions of why she's changed so much.</p>
<p>Set from the viewpoints of Thomas, Mrs. Hughes, Carson, and Mr. Green himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Windows on a Saint

Morning dawned chilly and grey as the household assembled for breakfast. There were more chairs than usual, owing to the addition of a few valets and ladies’ maids that were visiting with the party of aristocrats. After careful deliberation on the part of Carson, the visitors were given preference over the normal staff and seated just below him and Mrs. Hughes. The servants were nearly all assembled when Anna arrived.

…

As usual, Thomas spared Anna no more than a quick look as she came in, but even at a glance he could see something was wrong. Her lip was cut, and she had bruises along her cheekbone and a nasty scrape on her forehead. “Blimey, what happened to you?” 

Her muttered reply, accompanied by Mrs. Hughes’ chiding, did nothing to quell his interest. The young woman looked shaken, her gaze lowered. When Mr. Bates appeared and moved to sit down at the table she leaped up and excused herself, claiming she had too much to do to eat. Judging by the pallor of her face, Thomas somehow doubted that to be true. He wondered what could have upset her so; she was normally so calm and contented in the morning, often exchanging sickeningly sweet looks across the table at her husband. He wondered if they’d had a falling out; it would certainly explain her sudden departure. Perhaps Bates had been the one to give her those cuts and bruises, though Thomas doubted it. Much as he disliked the valet for his closeness to Lord Grantham, he knew Bates could never hurt Anna. He always treated his wife with such care, as though she were made of glass. It was silly, really - Anna was more than capable of taking care of herself. A sudden memory from the year before came to his mind: Anna, wandering through the house like a lost child, performing her duties with unseeing eyes. He felt a cold chill along his spine at the thought of her returning to the way she’d been when Bates had been imprisoned. Though he disparaged her high morals and blind loyalty to the family, he would never wish that sort of suffering on her again. Whatever troubled her, he hoped it would be resolved soon. 

…

Mrs. Hughes watched Anna closely as the young woman sat down, trying to hide her own worries behind the polite mask she used in front of visitors. She noticed Anna moved stiffly, eyes lowered; the bruises and cuts along her face looked better than they had the previous night, but still stood out against her pale skin. Mrs. Hughes could not suppress a shudder as she thought back to the way the maid had looked, kneeling in her sitting room, dress torn and hair in disarray. She’d cleaned the girl up as best she could, wincing as she’d seen the damage Green had done to Anna’s body. The thought of Mr. Green made her anger flare. He sat across the table now, inches from the woman he’d hurt. Mrs. Hughes had long known such evil men existed in the world, but it was one thing to hear tales and another to hold a broken and sobbing young woman in her arms. Remembering the look in Anna’s eyes as she’d slipped on the borrowed dress and painstakingly done up her hair, Mrs. Hughes knew with absolute certainty that nothing mortal justice could hand out could ever make Mr. Green suffer the way he’d made Anna suffer. She prayed that Heaven could mete out all the punishment that mankind could not. 

…

Mr. Carson did not like interruptions at his breakfast table. It was enough to worry about the visiting guests; he did not have time to deal with the whims of his own staff as well. On any other day he would have chided Anna for her abrupt and almost rude behavior, but one look at Mrs. Hughes told him that all was not well. He’d known Elsie Hughes longer than anyone, and he could tell there was something worrying her. Her eyes followed Anna out of the room as her mouth became set in a straight line. That expression meant trouble, and trouble for Mrs. Hughes meant trouble for him. He wondered what this had to do with Anna; certainly the girl had looked a little peaked, but did that warrant such an expression? No, there was something bigger going on, and he would get to the bottom of it eventually. Now was neither the time nor the place for such things. Rising suddenly to his feet, he left to supervise the departure of their guests. The sooner things were back to normal, the sooner he could find out what had made Mrs. Hughes so uncharacteristically upset.

…

He’d wondered whether she’d show up for breakfast. Her seat was right beside his, and he could feel her trembling even as she shied away from him. The observation made his hunger for her stir up once more, but he shook it off. Now that he’d had her, there was little purpose in staying around. He saw from her demeanor that she’d told no one what happened – probably too ashamed at cuckolding that crippled husband of hers. After what he’d done with her, he doubted she’d ever be able to willingly return to her husband’s bed again. She knew what a real man felt like now. In time, she’d come to appreciate it. He eyed her pale skin and the delicate arch of her neck. Perhaps, if Lord Gillingham returned to the Abbey, he would take her a second time. Then again, perhaps not: now that he’d had her once, the mystery of it was gone. No matter – there were plenty of women in the world. Anna Bates would just be another conquest to look back on with a smile. As he watched her hurried departure out of the corner of her eye, he felt a resounding sense of satisfaction. He would remember this visit for a very long time to come.


End file.
